D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II [Paperback]

Stephen E. Ambrose’sD-Dayis the definitive history of World War II’s most pivotal battle, a day that changed the course of history.

D-Dayis the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their lives, when the horrors, complexities, and triumphs of life are laid bare. Distinguished historian Stephen E. Ambrose portrays the faces of courage and heroism, fear and determination—what Eisenhower called “the fury of an aroused democracy”—that shaped the victory of the citizen soldiers whom Hitler had disparaged.

Drawing on more than 1,400 interviews with American, British, Canadian, French, and German veterans, Ambrose reveals how the original plans for the invasion had to be abandoned, and how enlisted men and junior officers acted on their own initiative when they realized that nothing was as they were told it would be.

The action begins at midnight, June 5/6, when the first British and American airborne troops jumped into France. It ends at midnight June 6/7. Focusing on those pivotal twenty-four hours, it moves from the level of Supreme Commander to that of a French child, from General Omar Bradley to an American paratrooper, from Field Marshal Montgomery to a German sergeant. Ambrose’sD-Dayis the finest account of one of our history’s most important days.Stephen E. Ambrose was a renowned historian and acclaimed author of more than thirty books. Among hisNew York Timesbestsellers areNothing Like It In the World, Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, D-Day,andUndaunted Courage. Dr. Ambrose was a retired Boyd Professor of History at the University of New Orleans and a contributing editor for theQuarterly Journal of Military History.Chapter 1

THE DEFENDERS

At the beginning of 1944, Nazi Germany's fundamental problem was that she had conquered more territory than she could defend, but Hitler had a conqueror's menlS¢